The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-05-23

der the stroke of a gunboat there remained
the shark and the whale and the endless
tossing of the sea which cannot rest. How
will you find their graves for this national
decoration! Nothing but the archangel's
trumpet shall reach their lowly bed A few
of them have been gathered into naval
cemeteries of the land and you will garland
the sod that covers them, but who win put
flowers on the fallen crew of the exploded
Westfield and Shawsheen, and the sunken
Southfield, and the Winfield Scott Bullets
threatening in front, bombs threatening
from above, torpedoes threatening from be-
meath and the ocean with its reputation of
six thousand years for shipwreck lying all
around, am not right in saying it required
a special courage for the navya
It looks picturesque and beautiful to see
war vessel going out through the Mar
rows, sailors in new rig singing:
"a life on the ocean wave,
A home on the rolling deepl"
the colors gracefully dipping to passing
ships, the decks Immediately clean, and
the guns at Quarantine firing parting
salute. But the poetry is all gone out of
that ship as it comes out of that engage
ment, its decks red with human blood,
wheelhouse gone, the cabins pile of shat
tered mirrors and destroyed furniture, steer
ing wheel broken, smoke-stack crushed, a
hundred pound Whitworth rifle shot having
left its mark from port to starboard the
shrouds rent away, ladders splintered and
decks ploughed up, and smoke-blackened
and scalded corpses lying among those who
are gasping their last gasp far away from
home and kindred, whom they love as much
as we love wife and parents and children.
Not waiting until you are dead to put upon
your graves wreath of recognition, this
hour we put on your living brow the gar
land of nations praise.
o, men of the Western Gulf squadron, of
the Eastern Gulf squadron, of the South
Atlantic squadron, of the North Atlantic
squadron, of the Mississippi squadron, of
the Pacific squadron, of the West India
squadron, and of the Potomac flotilla, hear
our thanksl Take the benediction of our
churches Accept the hospitalities of the
nation. If we had our way we would get
you not only pension but a home and q
princely wardrobe, and an equipage and a
banquet while you live, and after your de-
parture catafalque and a mausoleum of
sculptured marble, with model of the ship
in which you won the day. It is con-
naval fight the flagship with
its blue ensign goes ahead
up a river or into bay, its admiral stand
ing in the shrouds watching and giving
orders But have to tell you, o veterans
of the American navy if you are as loyal to
Christ as you were to the government, there
is flagship sailing ahead of you of which
Christ is the admiral, and He watches from
the shrouds, and the heavens are the blue
ensign, and He leads you towards the har-
Dor, and all the broadsides of earth and hell
cannot damage you, and ye, whose gar
ments were once red with your own blood
shall have a robe washed and made white in
the blood of the Lamb Then strike eight
bells! High noon in Heaveni
With such anticipation, o veterans of the
American navyl l charge you to bear up
under the aches and weaknesses that you
still carry from the war times. You are not
as stalwart as you would have been but for
that nervous strain and for that terrific ex-
posure. Let every ache and pain, instead of
depressing, remind you of your fidelity.
The sinking of the Weehawken off Morris
Island, Dec. &, 1868, was mystery.
She was not under fire. The sea was not
rough. But Admiral Dahlgren, from the
deck of the flag steamer Philadelphia, saw
her gradually sinking, and finally she
struck the ground, but the flag still fioated
above the wave in the sight of the shipping.
1t was afterwards found that she sank from
weakness through injuries in previous ser
vice. Here plates had been knocked loose
in previous times. So you have in nerve,
and muscle, and bone, and dimmed eye
sight, and difficult hearing, and shortness of
ually going down. 1t is the service of
twenty three years ago that is telling on you.
Be of good cheer. We owe you Just as
much as though your life-blood had gurgled
through the scuppers of the ship in the Red
river expedition, or as though you had gone
down with the Melville off Hatteras. Only
keep your flag flying as did the nlustrious
Weehawken.
Good cheer, my boysl The memory of
man is poor and all that talk about the
country never forgetting those who fought
for it is an untruth. 1t does forget. Wit
ness how the veterans sometimes had TO
turn the hand-organs on the street to get
their families living Witness how ruth
lessly some of them have been turned out of
office that some bloat of a politician might
take their place Witness the fact that there
is not man or woman now under thirty
years of age who has any full appreciation
of the four years martyrdom of 1861 to 1865
inclusive. But while men may forget, God
never forgets. He remembers the swinging
hammock. He remembers the forecasule.
He remembers the frozen ropes of that Jan
uary tempest. He remembers the amputation
without sufficient ether. He remembers the
horrors of that deafening night when forts
from both sides belched on you their fury
and the heavens glowed with the ascending
and descending missiles of death, and your
ship quaked under the recoil of the one
hundred FOUNDER, while all the gunners, ac
cording to command, stood on tiptoe with
mouth wide open lest the conclusion shatter
hearing or brain. He remembers it all bet
ter than you remember it, and in some shape
reward will be given. God is the best of
all paymasters. and for those who do their
whole duty to Him and the world the pen
sion awarded is an everlasting heaven.
Sometimes off the coast of England the
royal family have inspected the British
navy maneuvred before them for that pur-
pose. In the Baltic Sea the Car and
CzaIina have reviewed the Russian navy
To bring before the American people the
debt they owe TO the navy 60 out with you
on the Atlantic Ocean where there is plenty
Of room, and in imagination review the
war-slipping of our three great conflicts
1916, 1912 and 1865. Swing into line all ye
frigates, ironclads, fire-rafts, gunboats and
men-of-war! There they come, all sail set
and all furnaces in full blast, shoaves of
crystal tossing from their cutting plows.
That is the Delaware, an old Revolutionary
craft, commanded by Commodore Decatur.
Yonder goes the Constitution, Commodore
Hull commanding. There is the Chesapeake,
commanded by Captain Lawrence, whose
dying words were: "Dont give up the ships"
and the Niagara, of 1919, commanded by
Commodore Perry, who wrote on the back
of an old letter, resting on his navy cap:
"Wc have met the enemy and they are
ours Yonder is the flagship Wabash, Ad-